-Day one-
Hello. My name is Matthieu Williams and I am almost eleven years old. My therapist Bella said I should start a journal. I don't know what to write though. Papa told me to write it like a diary, so here I am.
Today Papa and I went to get icecream. Kumajiro made a big mess though. I think that's all we did. Sorry Bella, it's not that great.
- Matthieu
...
-Day two-
Hello, it's me again. Today at school I said hi to the boy next to me and he said hi back. Thanks to Bella, I feel so much more brave. I think I might actually start making friends soon! Papa was so happy, he made me pancakes for dinner.
- Matthieu
...
I frowned as I read through a few more entries. This poor boy. What happened to him? He seemed so sweet and full of life. What happened to make him turn the corner. I could only imagine what his father must have felt.
I shut the journal and made my way downstairs before hearing my brother Aaron. I peeked into the living room and saw him standing, reading out loud to the other two from the book.
I strained to hear but could only make out,
"I fear... Life... He wakes... And screaming...My son... Not okay."
I felt dread and peeked back inside to see them all frowning. "Hold on, this could all be fake. It could be like a book he was writing," Allistor said. "No, this is his journal. The earlier pages are just about his daily life and then they switch into this. Something is going on," Aaron said.
"Maybe he's right. It's the same as Arthur," Dylan pointed out. They were all frowning and I wanted nothing more than for all of it to end. I didn't know what was happening. I was scared, and I wanted to run away but I stayed there, frozen against the wall, feeling the tensity of my brothers' silence.
"We need to look into this. I will talk to the therapist but for now, we don't let Arthur out of our sight, okay?" I stood and left into my room, shutting the door and sitting in my desk. I stared at the notebook and picked it up, feeling only pity and fear as I stared at the name scribbled on it. I opened it again and continued to read, despite the protest in my gut.
...
-Day twenty-six-
I feel tired. I didn't sleep much last night. I heard tapping all night. I thought it was a ghost at first but nothing scary happened. The tapping didn't stop for a few hours. I think I'm going to take a nap now. Goodnight.
...
I felt a tint of fear when I read that. It had to be a coincidence. It just had too. I continued reading, so lost in the small entry, that I jumped when a knocking came at my door. The door opened and Dylan peeked his head in.
"I rented movies. Let's go watch them," he said. I nodded and he stayed, looking at me. "How are you feeling?" The question caught me off guard and my first reaction was to lie. "I'm fine." He nodded and left, leaving me alone. I sighed and shut the book, leaving my room to join my brothers down stairs.
I don't remember what movie it was, in fact I wasn't so much even paying attention. All I could remember was being in between Allistor, who had his legs over my lap, and Aaron who held a bowl of popcorn, occasionally passing it to Allistor as the movie went on, Dylan sitting by my feet with his own popcorn.
The movie played in the dark room, illuminating our figures and all I could think about was the mirror on my wall. Now I was sure of one thing. I wasn't crazy at all, and as my brothers fell asleep against me, my mind wandered to the little notebook that sat on my desk, and if Oliver knew that I had the secret of his world.